On Our Velder
by Anastasia Debby
Summary: Aisha is a genius forbidden magic practitioner in industrial Capital. Elsword is a country-bumpkin aspiring to be a strong warrior. Both destinies collided into each other, morphing into a new tale of chivalry and betrayal, good and evil as together they dig into the depths of their country and the darkness underlying the bright illusion of its greatness. Steampunk!AU
1. Chapter 1: A Jumping Start

**Disclaimer:** Elsword is an action MMORPG developed by KOG Studios. It has a manhwa and an okay gameplay. I do not own the MMORPG nor the manhwa. Writing this fic do not give me a single cent.

**A/N:** I decided to make a steampunk!Elsword because, c'mon, who doesn't adore steampunk? Anyway, I'm playing Aisha, and am totally obsessed with Elsword/Aisha right now... So expect it as the main pairing in this fic! This is only the start though. You may also expect speedy updates since I'm now on a 6-month vacation and will probably have no other thing to do other than writing shorts and avoiding my own novel. Yay procrastination! Really sorry for the grammar-butchering. I'm not an English native-speaker, so yeah. (That's just an excuse, so fire away with the critics!)

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**Chapter 1: A Jumping Start**

Sometimes Aisha wished that she lives in a different world.

The wind blows strongly, whipping her purple hair back and revealing her dirt-stained face almost proudly to the sky. It wailed and howled, screaming as each flow of air rushed through the rocks beneath her feet. The earth cracked in the middle of the empty field as if split in two, a river running strong and deep down on its bottom. It was so far down from where Aisha was standing, she's not sure if she would come back alive. She wondered if she had chosen the right attire; she wished she had worn simple shorts instead of her purple dress―a dead weight if submerged in water.

The river roared, its sound still audible even through the strong wind. It leads to a cave invisible from where she was standing. No one knew where its current headed to, but Aisha does.

She knew.

Behind her, she could faintly hear the sound of metal clanking and steam blowing. She didn't need to look back to know that there were things chasing her―machines. Bits of white fur and pink flesh on top of curious gears, characteristic of the new P.H. Or.U.S units, adorned the metal skeletons running through the grass field in incredible speed. Under the harsh light of the sun, it shines almost blindingly. Aisha has always laughed inside every time she spotted one of those **things** running around town. Praised highly as 'the ultimate unification of the force of Roh and human's intelligence', it always struck her as odd that such a grand title would be given to such soulless, pitiful things. Their eyes rolled around its sockets, saliva dripping from each corner of lips. They looked like corpses―violently butchered and disrespectfully attached on top of lethal robots to give an illusion of 'life'.

An army of them were behind her, eyes rolling and mouth frothing with an ugly mixture of saliva and leaked oil, running at full speed to butcher _her _corpse and stacking tiny pieces of her on top of their ugly heads.

Aisha gave another look at the far away river beneath her, its roar screaming death threats. She crouched and raised her arms straight to chest-level, an imitation of a jumping stance she saw on a sport article; a beautiful girl with long slender legs crouching like she did on the edge of the sea, lips grinning so sweet it was almost saccharine. 'A Jump to the Water in a Scorching Summer! A Recommended Sport!'

Twenty meters away from the front most line of P.H. Or.U.S-es, she jumped.

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**Thank you for reading!**

**RnR, please?**


	2. Chapter 2: An Icy Dip in the Summer

**A/N: **Here as promised: the second chapter! Thanks for the support, everyone! It's really too bad that ffn refuses to show the guest reviews. Or is it the way ffn works now? I have been off this site for such a long time! Anyway, I forgot to tell you that this story will probably be more dark, so brace yourselves!

**Thanks to: **KibaTsumeShippo, BIAxDiA, Hospes, A Person (haha!). Thanks for the support, everyone!

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The clanks of rusting metal colliding with the hard ground filled the air. Shouts and chatters, grinding gears and blowing steam, all heightens the sound of the clanks as if it was a masterpiece symphony. It's supposed to be the middle of the day out there, but here in the 130-years old nameless coal mine, it was as dark as the night. Only small lamps on the miners's heads and weak lanterns provided dim lighting speckled all across the mine like stars in a night sky.

Elsword stood up from his crouched position, face covered with grime and dirt. He's thankful for Mrs. Rotten and her thoughtfulness of stuffing all of his red hair inside his hat. As much as he actually loves his hairstyle, the high spikes are just going to get in the way. Adjusting the position of his hat with his gloved fingers, he admired the stacks of coal he and his group had managed to gather. They even found a bit of Roh Crystals here and there. Too bad that with the pressing demand the government has for Roh Crystals and the hybrid hype surrounding it, even such small amounts aren't going to be free to take.

He casually walked away from his still chatting group, knowing full well that the end of their shift was approaching and all of them were just lounging around anyway. The scent of burnt cheap tobacco wafted in the damp, cold air. As he walked further, the symphony of mine voices were steadily replaced by a faint roar coming the underground steam nearby. It got louder and louder, until its menacing dark water was in front of Elsword. He crouched down and took off his hat, scooping up water with his hands and wetting his red hair with it, now damp with cold water and sweat. He sighed.

The tiny lamp on his hat caught something shiny and glimmered.

He lifted his face, trying to find out whatever it was. There, in the middle of the river, was a big boulder. On top of it was a purple cloth and something that suspiciously looked similar to a staff. Elsword lifted his hat from the ground and took the lamp from it. He searched the boulder, trying to find more of the purple fabric.

The light showed him the silhouette of a girl in a purple dress.

He nearly screamed right there. With bulging eyes and a heart ready to stop at any moment, he was just about to call on the others when his eyes caught something on the back of the girl's neck. It was a symbol, a symbol Elsword himself knew well, of an ice flower burnt in a circle of fire. Each curves and dots, even the blurry shape of the circle of words around the symbol screamed familiarity at him. It was the same symbol he saw on the back of his sister's neck before she disappeared.

Elsword jumped right into the stream.

The river was deeper than he predicted, his feet flailing without any contact with its bottom. The freezing water without the sunlight to warm it up nearly locked all of his muscles, but he tightened his resolve. He pedaled with all he got. He reached his hand out, just a bit closer to the edge of her dress…

He grasped it, and tried to pull himself closer to the girl, but the boulder was slippery with water and years of being abraded by the strong current. Without him getting too much of a grip on her, she slipped down from the boulder, and sunk down into the stream. He gasped and gulped some of the water down.

Elsword kicked the boulder, trying to propel himself to the edge of the river while his hand caught her body. She was heavy, her dress absorbing much of the river water. He swam like he never did before, memories of his sister and the village flashing before his eyes.

Then his feet reached the bottom of the river.

He had never swam in the river before and as much as he knew, no one ever did. So it was normal for him not to expect that some part of the river was shallow. He looked on to the far away dots of amber light from the miners. He wanted to laugh. How could they not realize something was wrong with all the noises he made? There he was about to die and none of them came to his rescue. But he was, in a way, thankful. He dragged the limp body of the girl onto the shore, tired and shivering from the cold. He coughed out some of the water, and blew his nose. He could taste something weird in his tounge from the water, but decided it was better not to take a look and simply spat it out.

He fetched his lamp from the ground and, facing it to her direction, he could see that she must be around his age, if not younger. Her hair was a curious purple tied up in loose ponytails. Did she come from a foreign country? He just couldn't imagine how far the river stretched.

He stared at the unconscious girl in front of him and saw how she was still breathing. She was still alive. The staff in her hand reflected the small ray of light coming from his lamp. Was that a magic staff? No way.

"Just who are you, really?", he wheezed.


End file.
